Phonak PR On Slow-Growth Hearing-Aid Market Misses The Point: It’s Not The Product, It’s The Price!
Phonak has cranked up its PR engine for the launch of the snazzy new Audeo hearing aid family, scoring a beautiful piece in BusinessWeek magazine on the wonders of its expensive new digital hearing aids with their jazzy colors and names. Read more
On-Again, Off-Again Merger Of Hearing-Aid Giants Phonak and GN Resound May Be On Again
The CEO of Phonak Holding in Switzerland says he won’t be deterred, at least for now, by the German cartel office veto of the company’s acquisition of GN ReSound. Read more
And Then There Were Six: GN Store Nord Puts GN ReSound On The Block
I wrote about the “seven sisters” of the global hearing aid industry a while ago, but now it appears there will be six. Consolidation among the largest manufacturers continues as GN Store Nord considers selling GN ReSound, the world’s third-largest hearing-aid brand, to one of the other majors. Read more
GN Acquisition Of Interton Accelerates Hearing-Aid Industry Consolidation
The big are getting bigger in the hearing-aid industry, with GN Store Nord, parent of the GN ReSound Group, acquiring German hearing-instrument developer Interton for DKK 350-million ($56 million USD). Read more
Jabra’s New Headset Is Hard-Of-Hearing Friendly
Jabra has always set trends for great design and cutting-edge consumer technology with its telephone headsets and earpieces, and now it is aiming its marketing guns directly at hard-of-hearing consumers with its announcement of the new Jabra 650 telecoil-compatible corded headset. Read more
Sound ID Has A Sound Idea
Sound ID is a Silicon Valley start-up that is finally breaking down the barriers between consumer electronics and the hearing aid industry. It is developing a Bluetooth-based product that will make it easier for everyone — consumers with normal hearing and hearing-impaired people alike — to understand voices on the other end of their cellphones in noisy environments. Read more
The Seven Sisters of the Hearing Aid Industry
When you start thinking about buying a hearing aid, the choices can be dizzying. On first look, you would think there are hundreds of manufacturers. The reality is simpler. While there are scores of name brands, in fact only seven manufacturers control about 90 percent of the worldwide market for hearing aids. Read more
